War Stories: The Military Adventures of Sgt. Preston
First Story First Day March 28th, 2008, 1300 hours Sgt. Mark Preston 1st. Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment North Carolina, USA My first official day in the US Army Rangers. Meeting my commanding officers. Feeling like a FNG. Nobody is calling me that already. The soldier by the name of Cpl. Mark Johnson. He was okay, nothing out of the usual. He was the only one that calls me the FNG. I think I'm starting to like Mark. Starting off as Pvt. Preston. Maybe If I like run the obstacle course in like under 20-25 seconds or something, I'll be Pvt 1st Class. Preston. I'm starting to know my command officers, Maj. Kendall Tucson and Gen. Steve Hamilton. Most of the guys here call Tucson "Tucker" or something. I called him Tucson a bit to get on his nerves. Show him I'm not afraid to fire off the big guns. Apparently, he gets angry FAST. And I mean FAST. Like he actually has ears like a hawk. I was talking to Mark about my plan and he overheard it. What a b****. I guess I know about Tucker a bit now. I know Hamilton a lot right now. This guy is a freakin' full-blooded American. He has a near-Flatbush accent and looks like a 100% American dude. Steve was 47 years old and my General. Now THAT is a guy dedicated to his country. Now Steve took me over to the obstacle course so he can project my skills. He can predict ANYONE's skills, and I mean ANYONE, just but them running the course. I met Lt. Janson at the start of the course. He opened up a crate with tons of guns. They had labels on all of them. I picked the M4 Carbine and Beretta M9. I would've picked another assault rifle or a SMG, but Steve had some of his rules. I got to the start and the course started. There were several parts to it. Part I was a pit where I had to slide down to start. I got off my a** and I started firing like mad. I have a bit of like slight-of-hand reload style. Part II came after a short hallway. A bit bigger, with civillian targets. It was a bit obvious which is which. There was a hallway with stairs this time. At the start of Part III, I had to melee a target and then had some targets (like 4 enemies, 1 civie). Once I cleared that, Part IV came with a lot of targets. I cleared that and then there was Part V where was enemies on a balcony, bridge, on the ground, and dogs running at me. I killed all of the targets and ran so freakin fast to the finish. Like the fasted I've ever run. I finished the course in 31 seconds. I found Tucker waiting for me at the end. He gave me a little snare. Didn't even speak. Just walked away. Then Steve came, gave Tucker a little nudge, and said he was impressed with me. I got to meet all my partners and Mark was there too. We talked to each other and they told some stories about what THEY did. There was this one guy, Sgt. Carson who was a bit weird. His parents dealed with mental people and people who are like paranoid or are like hiding or frightened from a fear. He got scared for a second because his cousin died before he came to the Army Rangers. Weird.... That was it for my day. I was set to get my first assignment tomorrow. Steve kinda liked me, I can tell that Tucker is either worried about me, doesn't think I'm fit for this/ not "Warfare matieral", or just acting like a n***er. I'm pretty sure he is acting like a total a******. I could use some sleep... Imagine what it will feel like after my new assignments.....Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............ Second Story Part I Nuclear Prevention April 6th, 2008, 0800 hours Sgt. Mark Preston 1st. Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment Strait of Hormuz, Iran Gen. Hamilton has assigned many troops to mission in Iran. Intel includes a possible launch of a nuclear weapon. Pvt. Preston and the others have been assigned to be one of the ground forces. It was a big mission order, but Steve picked out his most elite soldiers for this mission. He sent many forces to Iran to stop them from launching a nuclear weapon. I was ready for action and pumped up. I grabbed a M9 and shot in the air. “This is our biggest mission yet!” said Mark. “Maybe our most biggest mission ever” I said. I never thought that they would finish that nuclear weapon. Just like how I thought the “2012 Apocalypse” was never gonna happen. Well, that’s just a myth. Anyways, this is a task to be taken seriously. While Sgt. Mason was just monkeying around with Pvt. 1st Class. Daniels‘ guns. He was just a little guy and he was just starting this whole thing. I picked up my M4A1, UMP45, and a M9 as I rushed out of the weapon room to meet up with my partners. Mark was with me as he was on the sniping squad. We flew over to our position just across the Strait of Hormuz. Me and the others were on the ground forces, while Mark and the other snipers got into sniping position. We had to be the sneakiest we have ever been. At one point, we had to split up and go with another one person to take down some guards. I went with Pvt. 1st Class Daniels or “Danny” as he likes to be referred as. No one gives respect for the little guy (except for me), but at 5’ 6”, he is still a soldier to me. We went into the security room where all the cameras were. We snuck in and killed all the guards inside with a SMG. After killing the guards inside, we had to override the cameras to let the others and the snipers get in undetected. We took an exit that went somewhere mysterious, but we ended up underground where every single one of the Iranian Soldiers were. I knew we were in trouble so I decided to go back. The door wouldn’t budge. Two soldiers heard us and he needed to hide. We found a dark spot and we hid there for a while. The soldiers opened up the doors and we tried to go in and knife them and get out of there, but then a whole regiment came in. I was scared as hell and Danny was scared s***less. When all of the soldiers went by, we continued downstairs. Someone was coming. “Who’s there?” a voice whispered. It was Mark. He got lost on the way to his sniping position. “Preston, Daniels, where the f*** am I??!” he shouted while whispering. “You are underground in the Iranian base camp. If you freak out, it’s all over”. I replied. So, we continued along the way and we were at the end of a hallway with crossroads. One sign said “<--- اتاق سلاح مرکزی” and another one said “تیراندازی اوج محدوده --->” Danny speaks Farsi and he said “The one to the left says ‘Central Weapon Room’ and the one on the right said ‘Sniping range peak’. So, I think we should go right” “Yeah, no s*** you midget”. said Mark. “Dude, at least he translated for us. If we decided to go left, then we would’ve died and compromised the whole mission. So just shut up and continue to the range”. I said to Mark. “But where are you too going to go at the peak?” said Mark. “We,” I said, “are going to go down the peak’s hill and infiltrate the ground base”. “Good idea” replied Mark. Danny thought the same. “وجود دارد؟ (Who‘s there?!)” a voice said. “It’s a guard!!!” I whispered. “Quick, to the peak!!!” We dashed to the peak and we just escaped the guards. “آه، خوب بود، هیچ کس در اینجا وجود دارد.در حال حاضر، مورد که دستور ساندویچ (Oh, ok, there was no one here. Now, about that sandwich recipe)” said one of the guards. We made it to the peak as we oversaw the base. “Wow” said Danny. I wonder how we are gonna make it through here. “With pride and passion” I said. “Don’t talk that prima donna s***, Preston”. remarked Mark. “Whatever. The plan: Mark, you are the sniper and use the silencer to take out the guards, silently. Danny, me and you will slide down the hill to infiltrate the ground base. We will also use the silencer to take out guards”. “Got it” said Mark and Danny. So, as Mark got into sniping position as Danny and I went down the hill into the base. ''- END OF PART I''